History
285D.001

This research seminar is ideal for students who want to develop and write an original research paper that may form the basis of a dissertation chapter or a publishable quality essay on the subjects of race, gender, and/or sexuality in America.

We will spend the first few weeks of class reading, discussing, and analyzing a series of exemplary readings, which focus upon race, gender, and/or sexuality in America. We will meet sporadically thereafter for the purpose of discussing your progress and workshopping and offering feedback on your essay drafts. We will also meet with the librarian to help you identify sources and familiarize yourself with the library’s many resources which may prove useful for your projects. In the final class session, seminarians will deliver oral presentations based on their final projects.

Possible research topics could include but are not limited to:

The development of and challenges to racial categories

Evolving responses to interracial sex and relationships

Racial and sexual violence

Past and present waves of immigration and shifting conceptions of race

The history of racial passing

The history of whiteness

The pathologization of sexual difference

The parallels between liberation movements of racial and sexual minorities

Transgender Liberation Movement(s)

Racial and gendered implications of “Stop and Frisk” and “Stand Your Ground” laws